LOWER PROVIDENCE — A teacher for the Methacton School District was recently honored as Animalearn’s 2012 Humane Educator of the Year at the Pennsylvania Science Teacher Association Convention held in Hershey, Pa. last week.

Patty McGinnis, who has taught for more than 20 years and currently teaches science at Arcola Intermediate School and serves as the gifted support specialist for the Methacton School District, was honored for efforts to incorporate humane technology in the classroom, according to a statement from Animalearn.

“Usually, a select number of individuals stand out to us as Animalearn’s Humane Educator and Humane Student of the Year potential recipients,” explained Nicole Green, the director of Animalearn, in an email. “Mrs. McGinnis was selected as our Humane Educator of the Year because she not only took a significant interest in Animalearn’s offerings but also was proactive about helping us to enlighten others in her school district about the benefits of using dissection alternatives.”

McGinnis’ proactive efforts included inviting Animalearn to speak to members of her gifted class about alternatives to dissection and then inviting the organization to the school’s annual STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) Day, to allow the organization to reach an even larger group.

Advertisement

“I’m both surprised and delighted to be honored with this award,” McGinnis said in a statement following her win. “Animalearn does such terrific work and provides a valuable service to biology teachers and health teachers nationwide.”

Because of McGinnis’ victory, Animalearn will also donate $1,000 worth of dissection alternatives to Arcola Intermediate School for students to use in the place of traditional dissection tools.

“Students today are so fortunate to have so many choices when it comes to their learning and Animalearn makes it easy for teachers to help support the individual needs of their learners,” McGinnis explained in a statement.

Along with teaching in the Methacton School District, McGinnis also serves on the Board of Directors for both the Pennsylvania Science Teacher Association and the National Middle Level Science Teacher Association and has previously been honored for her work with awards such as the Montgomery County Middle School Science Teacher of the Year and the Paul DeHart Hurd Award for National Middle School Science Teacher of the Year, according to her webpage on the website for the Methacton School District.

According to a statement on Animalearn’s website, the goal of the organization is to “foster an awareness of and a respect for animals used in education,” most notably including the elimination of using animals to educate by providing educators with the necessary resources to make the use of real animals unnecessary.

More information on Animalearn and the 2012 Humane Educator of the year Award can be found at www.animalearn.org.